NBC Headed Down Yellow Brick Road as ‘Oz’ Becomes the Toast of the Development Season

NBC has snapped up a new version of "The Wizard of Oz," which is suddenly a hot commodity in television, Deadline.com reports.

"A century after the release of L. Frank Baum’s ‘Wizard Of Oz’ series, the books have become the toast of this TV development season," Nellie Andreeva writes on the website. "NBC just nabbed ‘Emerald City,’ an Oz-themed drama from ‘Siberia’ creator/showrunner Matthew Arnold. Two weeks ago, CBS put in development ‘Dorothy,’ a medical soap inspired by the characters and themes from ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ I hear there is another Oz drama making the rounds from ‘Heroes’ alums Adam Armus and Nora Kay Foster, with ‘Heroes’ creator Tim Kring supervising. And just last month, Syfy picked up for development a miniseries titled ‘Warriors Of Oz; from director Timur Bekmambetov, a fantasy-action reimagining of the classic story."

Some of the renewed interest in the venerable tale may have to do with the upcoming 75th anniversary of the 1939 movie, Andreeva notes, pointing out that a 3D reissue of the beloved Judy Garland film is in the works for the occasion. Also, Andreeva notes, "Oz the Great and Powerful" did well earlier this year.

"’Emerald City,’ which Arnold is writing and executive producing through Universal Television, is described as a dark reimagining of the classic tale of Oz in the vein of ‘Game Of Thrones,’ drawing upon stories from Baum’s original 14 books," Andreeva adds.

One Comment

Note to Hollywood:
KNOCK IT OFF!
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WILL SOME OF YOU *TRY* TO NOT BE SUCH FRIGGIN’ CREATIVE LEMMINGS? OZ? SERIOUSLY?
I swear, you bastards are going to art-rape everything the public has any amount of affection for until none of us give a damn about any of it, aren’t you?